Life’s a meme: Bernie Sanders meme craze continues to sweep social media

The viral picture of Bernie Sanders was taken Jan 20 at Joe Biden’s inauguration. — AFP

Since Joe Biden’s inauguration, Bernie Sanders has been taking social media by storm after a photo of the Democrat Senator attending the event went viral. The buzz shows no sign of waning, and that’s maybe no bad thing, since the former US presidential candidate counts on cashing in on the hype... for the benefit of a nonprofit feeding seniors in Vermont.

His knitted mittens and grumpy look are now cult Internet gold. Thanks to AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski, Bernie Sanders became the buzziest politician on social media in the space of a few hours. The success above all unfolded on Twitter and Instagram, fuelled by anonymous Internet users and celebrities with millions of followers. Five days after Joe Biden’s inauguration, where the photo was taken, Bernie Sanders meme mania is still going strong, and has even grown.